Atypical Mycobacterial Infection Caused byMycobacterium marinum

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of AIDS has heightened interest in atypical mycobacterial infections.¹ Mycobacterium avium complex is the usual cause in patients with AIDS.^{2 3 4} M. marinum, which typically causes a self-limited, cutaneous infection, is widely known as swimming-pool granuloma because of its early association with public pools.⁵ It was first isolated and described, however, as an agent responsible for the deaths of saltwater fish kept in aquariums.⁶ Recent reviews of mycobacterial infections in patients with AIDS fail to mention M. marinum. ^{7 , 8}